The Road Less Traveled By

Travel Quote of the Day: “I see my path but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” – Rosalia de Castro (poet, 1837-1885)

Wuss’Up This Week: Pretty quiet week for economic reports. Tomorrow’s Weekly Jobless Claims estimates 397k. A large increase in jobless claims will help push rates down. On Friday the Trade Data report is released, which is a report that affects the value of the dollar. A falling deficit may strengthen the dollar and lead to lower rates.

Interest Rate Update: Give or take the 30-yr fixed is at 4.0% with ARM rates about a point lower. As usual, rates vary based on credit score, type of home, equity in the home, and if you are sick of hearing “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” yet.

Never thought a math problem could be interesting but this one caught my eye.

Did’ja Know… The expression should be “$1.23 for your thoughts,” because that’s what it costs the US Mint to make a single penny. What’s that? You want more penny facts? Okay…a mile of pennies laid out is $844.80. And that, my friends, wraps up this year’s edition of Penny Facts so please stop asking for more.

Travel Quote of the Day 2: “If you are in a spaceship that is traveling the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?” – Steven Wright (comedian)

Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Billy Idol last week. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a box of Froot Loops? (BTW – years from now scientists will link all of my mental problems and hair loss to the dyes used in this cereal.) Simply email me the answer to this week’s “Who Am I?” question. Good luck: “In two days I turn 58. In an interview earlier this year I stated that, ‘I haven’t voted since 1972 and I’m not a political person,’ so in real life I don’t want to kill any politician, let alone a President. I also once claimed, in a movie about an airplane, to have killed more people than cancer…but that’s not true either. What’s going on in my head? One of my co-stars from that airplane movie probably has a pretty good idea.”